Hyperboreal Trio came by its name honestly. Danish alto saxophonist Signe Emmeluth and Norwegian bassist Ingebrigt Håker Flaten have both lived in the far-northern metropolis of Trondheim, Norway, and that’s where the they first convened with Argentine-born, Berlin-based drummer Axel Filip. But the music that they improvise is, in its own idiosyncratic fashion, far from chill.
While the two Scandinavians are well-known to each other from countless gigs and shared membership in bands, it was Filip who clinched this combination. Filip had met Håker Flaten and Emmeluth separately, and the trio first convened in Trondheim’s Northern Studio for the session that yielded this album. It doesn’t take long to hear why the threesome has taken on a life…
Tag Archive: Ingebrigt Håker Flaten
Free-spirited Norwegian bassist Ingebrigt Håker Flaten returns with his remarkable (Exit) Knarr project, whose lineup has shifted multiple times since its 2022 debut. On the group’s third studio album, Drops, the now-stable sextet sees a few changes from Breezy (2024), with altoist Amalie Dahl and pianist Marta Warelis replacing Mette Rasmussen and Oscar Grönberg, respectively. He has also removed trumpet from the instrumentation, incorporating heavier doses of electronics to achieve an overwhelming realization of his experimental, post-modern jazz vision. Graphic scores — an unconventional notation learned from Mats Gustafsson and Anthony Braxton — were also introduced.
The opene, a thought-provoking deconstruction…